The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to a sealing plug for a multi-contact electrical connector which precludes the necessity of installing separate dummy pin contacts to effect the environmental sealing of non-used contact cavities.
A multi-pin electrical connector assembly is frequently provided to connect multiple electrical components attached to a wire harness bundle which transmits electrical signals to and from the individual components. In many installations it is unnecessary to use all the pin contacts available in the multi-pin electrical connector as the full capability of the connector is not required in that particular installation. For reasons of standardization, the overly capable multi-pin electrical connector assembly is commonly still provided even though the full capacity of that connector assembly is not required. Dummy circuits having spare pin contacts are therefore included within the wire harness bundle such that the spare pin contacts are inserted in the unused pin contact receiving cavities to environmentally seal the connector.
As shown in FIG. 1, a sectional view of a multi-contact electrical connector assembly 5 includes a connector portion 7 having multiple pin contact receiving cavities 9 and associated pin connector locking members 11. To afford a tight seal with the inserted pin contacts 13, a relatively soft rubber grommet 15 is mounted to the connector portion 7 by a connector cap 17 and includes apertures 19 aligned with the pin contact receiving cavities 9.
Typically, when sealing a non-used pin contact receiving cavity 9 in the connector assembly 5, it is common to insert a spare pin contact 13. The prior art sealing arrangement thus had a spare pin contact 13 attached to a dummy circuit 21 contained within the wiring harness bundle 23. The pin contact 13 is mounted in the pin contact receiving cavity 9 and extends therefrom through the aperture 19 in the grommet 15 to be retained in a conventional manner by a locking member 11. The spare pin contact 13 thereby providing the environmental sealing of any non-used pin contact receiving cavities 9.
While the above-described sealing arrangement was satisfactory for its intended purpose, certain disadvantages were experienced, notably, the use of dummy circuits can not be electrically detected after installation. Additionally, the use of spare pin contacts and dummy circuits prevents the reduction of the wire harness bundle size and increases the cost of the wire harness.